Preparation: 1. Physical

1650 kilometres sounds like an awfully long way to walk. Are we crazy?

Yes.  Probably.  But we're going to give it a go anyway. 

Will our bodies hold up? We're not sure, but we hope so.  We're not as young as we used to be, so we've had to work on our fitness levels.  We have tried to build up with a combination of walking, cycling and a bit of jogging.

For some time we have been going on a weekly 20 kilometre bike ride, with a longer ride (about 50km) every couple of months.  We are fortunate to live in an area with lots of hills, so each ride is a good workout.

Of course, our physical preparation includes a lot of walking.  We used to go for an occasional stroll in the afternoons, but once we began preparing for this holiday we made it a regular habit.  We started walking 3km every weekday after work, and have increased the distance as our departure date gets closer.  With 5 weeks to go we are walking 5km every afternoon, and intend to increase this to 6km shortly.

By the Byron Bay lighthouse café 

We also go for a weekly 7km return walk up to the lighthouse at Byron Bay.  It is a lovely walk, with a lot of variety in the scenery, plenty of native wildlife, and an excellent café up the top.  We plan to
frequent the cafés when we are in France,  so we are including a weekly coffee (or chai, or mango and macadamia ice cream) as part of our training regime.

The lighthouse is also a good spot for people watching and admiring the scenery, two other activities we plan on enjoying when we are on our holiday.

Byron Bay lighthouse walk 

In addition to these regular activities, we have been going on longer or more arduous walks when time has permitted. For example, last week we walked up Mount Warning, fully laden, with some friends who are planning their own long-distance walk later this year.

Lookout, Mount Warning